With an outbreak of a rare and deadly form of meningitis being reported in six states, the Minnesota Department of Health is working with two pain clinics in the Twin Cities to contact more than 600 local patients who received a steroid product that’s been linked to the outbreak.

No cases have been reported in Minnesota.

But the Minnesota Department of Health said on Thursday, Oct. 4, that the implicated product was used at Medical Advanced Pain Specialists in Edina, Fridley, Shakopee and Maple Grove. The health department said the product also was used at Minnesota Surgery Center in Edina and Maple Grove.

Those two pain clinics are the only known Minnesota providers to have used the implicated product, according to the health department. A representative for the pain clinics did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Nationally, 35 patients have developed fungal meningitis infections after being injected with the implicated product, which the health department said was produced by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.

At least five deaths have been reported in connection with the outbreak. The New England Compounding Center has closed and ceased operations since the outbreak was discovered.

“The infections are associated with … injected methylprednisolone from the New England Compounding Center,” said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, state epidemiologist and medical director of the Minnesota Department of Health. “This is a treatment for chronic pain.”

Lynfield pointed out that the particular type of injected steroid that’s been implicated in the outbreak is safely produced at other compounding pharmacies. Public health officials are focused, she said, only on products from the New England Compounding Center that were shipped to 23 states, including Minnesota.

“The fungal infections associated with the steroid product produce an uncommon form of meningitis, which should not be confused with the viral or bacterial forms of the illness with which most people are familiar,” the health department said in a statement. “This form of illness cannot be transmitted from person to person.”

The health department is working with the two pain clinics to contact all patients who received the product. Patients treated by those providers who develop certain symptoms are urged to contact their doctor or one of the pain clinics.

For patients who received a steroid injection in the spinal area, symptoms may include headache, fever, sensitivity to light, stiff neck or pain at the injection site. Many of the outbreak patients who became ill also had symptoms of stroke, such as weakness, difficulty with speech, visual changes or altered consciousness.

For patients who received an injection in another part of the body, symptoms could include swelling, redness and pain at the injection site and fever or chills.

The health department estimates that about 600 patients in Minnesota received injections in the spinal area, Lynfield said. She added that “several hundred” patients received injections at other sites such as joints.

Patients would have received the injections at some point between July and September.

“There’s treatment that people can use,” Lynfield said. “It’s really important if people have received this particular product … (and) are developing symptoms that they be evaluated.”

On Thursday, federal health officials urged doctors and hospitals not to use any products from New England Compounding Center. Investigators this week found contamination in a sealed vial of the steroid at the company.

Among states affected by the outbreak, Tennessee has by far the most cases with 25. Three deaths have been reported in Tennessee; deaths also were reported in Virginia and Maryland.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord.

This report includes information from the Associate Press.

Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at 651-228-5479. Follow him at twitter.com/ chrissnowbeck.

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